Relative Dimensions in Space
by MikeJaffa
Summary: Missing scene from episode 10.1: The Doctor wasn't going to take Bill on as his companion, but then old companions appeared.


TITLE: Relative Dimensions in Space

AUTHOR: MikeJaffa

SYNOPSIS: Missing scene from 10.1: The Doctor wasn't going to take Bill as his new companion, but then former companions turned up.

DISCLAIMER: Doctor Who is owned by the BBC

AUTHOR'S NOTE: If the show explains why the Doctor changed his mind, this becomes and AU. But here's my version…including some ideas I had when I was 13 which I may never be able to use again. (And if you hate them, remember, I was 13.)

8

8

The Doctor rapped Bill under her chin and said, "Get out."

Bill opened her eyes. "What?"

"You can keep your memories," the Doctor growled, "but get out of her before I change my mind. Don't speak. Don't start. Just run. Now! Go!"

Bill collected her jacket and ran out the door. It closed behind her and he heard her footsteps recede down the hall.

He turned to his desk and his eye caught his picture of Susan. "Shut up." He half turned away, then turned back to the picture of River. "You shut up as well."

The Tardis rumbled.

"Will you all please just leave me alone?" the Doctor pleaded. "I can't do that anymore. I promised-"

A brick of a man with dark hair wearing a suit, an overcoat, and a hat of a style the Doctor remembered from 1940s America appeared in the middle of the room.

He stumbled and looked around. He said, "What…where am I? Is this still the future?"

"That depends," the Doctor said as he rushed to the man and steadied him. "It's all relative. Here, sit down." He helped the man into a chair. "Let's start with your name."

"Sam…Sam Garner, PI."

"I'm the Doctor."

Sam's eyes widened slightly. "You're the Doctor? *The* Doctor? Time travel in a blue box?" He looked at the Tardis. "And that's it?"

"Yes…it is."

"So you're where she gets it?"

"Where who gets what?"

Another man in a pinstripe suit appeared in the room, flailing his arms wildly.

The Doctor recognized him and grinned. "Rory!"

"Huh? Who're you?"

"It's me, the Doctor. I regenerated."

Rory's eyes widened. "Good grief! River wasn't kidding about your eyebrows."

"What?"

Another figure: Amy in a blue, dotted dress, overcoat and a hat, and in heels.

The Doctor steadied her. "Easy, Pond."

Amy looked into his eyes. "Doctor? Is that you? Dear God. River wasn't kidding about your eyebrows."

"I didn't realize they were that distinctive."

"And you sound like a proper Scot now. That's funny." She shook herself out of his embrace and began to search her purse. "There's no time now. I have my spare Tardis key somewhere. Ah, here it is." She rushed to the Tardis and opened the door. "We have to get back."

"Where and when?" the Doctor said. "Essential facts."

"25th century," Amy said, "big space station in orbit of Jupiter. Huge place with a city inside it-"

"Sounds like Fort Olympus. Population of 10,000, 80% in transit and 20% standing support staff, humans and genetically engineered canine humanoids-"

"That's the one!" Amy affirmed. "Mad scientist opened a portal to these energy beings, the Xircathi. They need human bodies-"

"—to exist in our dimension," the Doctor finished. "But the Xircathi are lightweights. 25th century Earth has technology to detect them and easily repel them."

"Right," Amy said, "but twentieth century Earth doesn't. So this mad scientist and some future mobsters—all of whom are possessed, I think—opened a portal to twentieth century Earth-"

"—so the Xiracthi can invade Earth in the past," the Doctor said, "even though conditions weren't favorable for direct transit from their dimension to Earth in the 20th century. And you obviously got wise to the plan and got sucked into the future. But that doesn't explain what you're doing in my office."

"There's a weeping angel back in future," Amy explained. "She zapped us back here to save us, and she's going to try and shut down the portal to the Xircathi dimension. But Gabby wouldn't have sent us away-"

"'Gabby,' Amy?"

"The angel, Doctor. We call her Gabby. Play on the fact that she doesn't talk. But as I started to say, she wouldn't have sent us away if she didn't think it was suicide. I just know her that well."

"So? One less weeping angel. Finally some good news. She's obviously got some influence over you-"

"No!" Amy cried. "It's not like that. She's…she's our friend. She really cares about us, and she….she…."

"She what?" the Doctor prodded.

Amy said, "She's the angel who sent us back to 1938. We have to save her or she won't be there in 2012."

Sam had fished a lighter and a pack of cigarettes out of his coat pocket. "Finally, some honesty." He lit the cigarette and took a few puffs.

The Doctor scowled. "This is a non-smoking university, Mr. Garner."

Sam smirked. "I guess you'll have to expel me, Doc." He shifted his attention to Amy. "Go ahead, Red. Tell him all of it. Tell your beloved Doctor what you did to that poor kid. I'm in no hurry to leave until you do."

The Doctor turned to Amy. "The angel a 'poor kid'? Amy, what could you have possibly done?"

"We may have change that first rule, Doctor. We should make it time travelers lie, not just you…"

8

8

Amy was amazed that her tears didn't completely obscure her vision of the angel that had just sent Rory back in time. Or maybe the blurring of her vision was enough to let it move, but it was being kind, giving her a chance to say goodbye to the Doctor.

Not that it mattered. Her heart was being ripped apart and this…this thing had to know it.

'Damn you,' Amy thought. 'If you can hear my thoughts, damn you to hell.'

Was it her imagination? Or somewhere inside her, did something tell her the angel understood? That it was ok? And it was time to go?

Who cared?

Amy tried to summon enough courage to be brave. "Raggedy Man…" she managed. She spun around, her back to the angel, making sure the Doctor and River couldn't see it. Her eyes met the Doctor's, his face twisted up with tears running down his cheeks. "Goodbye!" she finished.

She felt a finger touch her shoulder. A gentle touch, not aggressive at all. Then the finger, the Doctor, River, the Tardis, and many of the nearby headstones disappeared. The sky changed.

Amy's stomach churned and she steadied herself against a headstone. "Rory?" she called. "Rory!?"

"Amy?" Rory's voice came from behind her.

Amy spun and saw Rory there, about twenty feet away, and an angel had pounced on him, holding him against her body.

"Rory!?" Amy leapt closer, but slowed as she could see what was going on: the angel wasn't attacking Rory. She was embracing him, holding him in a hug. Amy came around the side of Rory and saw the angel's face. It was the same angel who had sent her back in time, but she was smiling from ear to ear as she rested her head on Rory's shoulder.

"Rory?" Amy asked as her alarm turned to confusion. "What's going on?"

"Um, she's hugging me. I think she's glad to see me."

"I can see that. Why is she hugging you…whoa…"

Amy felt a little woozy. She blinked, and then the angel has moved to her, steadying her, her smile projecting concern and reassurance.

Amy put it together. "Hang on a minute," Amy said. "You were at Winter Quay, right? Of course you were. And you were the one at the end of his hall; I recognize pleats in your dress. You knew him for what, 40 years? And maybe in all that time he told you about me. You liked him. That's why you're glad to see him." 'And that means you don't know why I hate you,' Amy added to herself. But the angel was innocent of that.

Amy nodded. "I'm Amy. It's very nice to meet you-"

A boom sounded above her. Amy and Rory looked up (Amy felt the angel's hands fall from her but didn't pay it any mind). A metal something with a flaming contrail flew overhead, and disappeared behind buildings near the cemetery. There was a loud bang and smoke rose into the sky.

Rory said, "Tell me that wasn't part of an alien space ship. Or do they have jet engines in 1938?"

"Not unless Winston is doing test flights over New York two years early," Amy said. "Right! Let's look into it."

"Why us?"

"No one else. And I've got to do something right now. Let's go."

As they got to the cemetery gate, Rory glanced over his shoulder. The angel was still standing among the headstones, smiling at them.

Rory said, "Well, come on, Gabby, catch up."

"'Gabby'?" Amy turned towards Rory, and jumped when she saw the angel was right at her elbow, smiling enthusiastically.

"Seems to fit her," Rory said. "And do you really want to leave her to her own devices?"

"No, I suppose not. And her 'talents' may come in handy. All right, Gabby. Welcome aboard…"

8

8

"…and by the time we'd sorted the Merasa escape pod—oh, Doctor, you ever hear of a sentient virus called the Swarm?"

"Yes, Amy. Don't worry. It won't be in a position to trouble Earth again until the year 5080. Go on."

"Anyway," Amy said, "by the time it was all over we'd met Sam, and we set up a detective agency for investigating weird cases. X-Files way before the X-Files. And on one of our cases…let's say Gabby was able to talk to us. We found out she thought we'd been blasted out of Winter Quay straight to the cemetery, same as her. She didn't know we'd gone back to 2012."

"And you never told her she was going to send you back," the Doctor said.

"How could I?" Amy said. "She's like a little kid in some ways. She's older than dirt and we were the first people who had ever been nice to her. She loved us for that. And…and she became part of our family. It's been a year and…and we love her back. How could I tell her, Doctor? How do you tell someone you love that they'll do something horrible that you also hate them for?"

"So you put it off," the Doctor prompted. "You thought you had time to explain, years maybe. But it didn't work out that way, did it?"

Amy shook her head. "Bad guys got another copy of River's book. Gabby read it in about a second. She was upset…to put it mildly."

"She's not the only one," Sam said as he stood up. "I knew you guys had secrets, but I thought I could trust you. Now, I'm not so sure. And I can't work with people if I can't trust them."

Amy nodded. "I understand. Help us finish this case, Sam. And then after that…" she trailed off.

Sam dropped the cigarette and ground it out with his foot. "Fair enough."

8

8

Troy Borealis picked himself up and shook himself. The twenty-year-old blonde human, dressed in the black, red, and blue uniform of Fort Olympus security, looked around the rocky beach. It was a chilly, cloudy day, and they were near a pier as water lapped near him.

He tried to shake the cobwebs out of his head. "Ceaser?"

"Behind you," a voice growled.

Troy turned to see the two-meter-tall canine humanoid hybrid, white fur with black spots, also dressed in a security uniform. "Where are we?" Troy asked.

"Looks like the south coast of England," Ceaser answered. "My litter mates and I came here once on a field trip. First time on Earth. But it smells wrong-" He broke off and looked past Troy's shoulder. "Heads up. Locals."

Troy turned and saw two people coming towards him. One was a tall man in a purple coat with a long scarf and dark, curly hair poking out from under his hat. Next to him was a short blonde woman dressed in a sailor outfit.

Troy's hand drifted towards his sidearm. "That's close enough. Identify yourselves."

The man and the woman slowed to a halt. The man grinned and said, "There's no need for violence. I'm the Doctor. This is Romana."

"The Doctor?" Troy said. "She mentioned someone called the Doctor. Do you know an Amy Williams?"

"No, but now I expect I'll meet her someday."

"I don't understand."

"Well, that's the thing about time travel. Things can happen in the wrong-" He broke off as a familiar cyclic rumbling got louder. "Hello. What's this?"

Romana smirked. "I guess you tried for Brighton again?"

A Tardis materialized on the beach. The door open and a red-haired woman in 1940s dress poked her head out. "Troy! Ceaser!" she called. "Get in. Don't worry. There's more than enough room."

Troy and Ceaser exchanged glances. They nodded to the Doctor and Romana, then ran to the Tardis and squeezed past her into the Tardis.

Amy stayed in the door. "Doctor?"

"Yes?" the Doctor said. "You need help?"

"No, your other self says hello but we can manage thanks. But I wanted to let you know I will see you someday. Spoilers."

"I understand."

Amy started to close the door, then opened it again. "And don't go to Planet One without me! It won't make sense otherwise."

"I'll try and remember," the Doctor said.

Amy smiled, then went into the Tardis and closed the door. That Tardis dematerialized.

Romana said, "A redhead? Damn. That blows the percentages."

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, at the academy, it was even money if you preferred blondes or brunettes. If I had known a ginger could make the cut, I would have regenerated into a body I'd had my eye on for a while. Now, I'm stuck with this old thing. For a while anyway."

"What?"

"Never mind. Let's get K-9 and head for Argolis."

8

8

"Damn!" The Doctor slammed the main control leaver back and forth. Then he stalked over to the doors and pulled them open. They were in space. Jupiter's half disk filled the sky, and in the near distance, the mile-wide rotating torus of the space colony. "Too much interference in the non-Euclidian dimensions," the Doctor growled. "Causing turbulence in the time vortex. The Tardis won't land."

Troy said, "What if we tell you where in the station it is?"

"Won't help, and we have to get there now. The Xircathi are trying to come through."

"Signal," Amy said. "Last time we ran into trouble landing, you needed a signal, landing lights. What about Gabby? She's right in the middle of that. Can't you find the one weeping angel on that thing?"

Rorry snapped his fingers. "Amy, I think you're onto something. Doctor, she just sent us all back in time. Couldn't she have left a trace-"

The Doctor spun with a grin. "You might all still have traces of her temporal energy signature!" He pulled his screwdriver out of his pocket, waved it at the others, and checked the readings. "There. Just enough." He closed the door and crossed to the console. "Programming into the sensors…" He scrutinized a screen. "…come on, don't be shy—there she is! Hang on." He hit the throttle. The Tardis lurched, lights flickering and sparks flying from the console.

Amy found herself hanging onto a railing. "Hang in there, Gabby," she said. "We're coming to get you, whether you like it or not."

The Tardis slammed to a halt. The Doctor said, "We've landed!" and opened the door. He lead the others out into a metal corridor in front of a big metal door. "There's always a big metal door," he lamented

Troy went to a wall keypad. "It's locked. The code's been scrambled."

"Deadlocked?" the Doctor asked.

"No."

"Well, then." The Doctor aimed his screwdriver at the keypad. The door slid open. Gabby had her back to the door in the middle of a room that (of course) was loaded with scientific machinery. She stood facing a meter-wide metal triangle with a churning vortex inside it.

Amy sucked in a breath. "Is it just me or are those cracks in her?"

"It's not you, Amy," the Doctor said as he put on his sonic sunglasses and checked their readings. "She's trying to absorb the energy that's keeping the wormhole stable, but it's too much. She's overloading. She could blow any second!"

"No, she isn't, Doctor! We know that. So do something!"

"I don't know, Amy. I either have to rig something in record time, or we have to find more weeping angels to draw the energy off."

"That's it," Amy said. "We already have another angel." She rushed into the room to stand by Gabby.

The Doctor figured out what she was going to do. "Amy! It's too dangerous."

"I am not leaving her." Amy raised her hands. "That which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel. There's part of you inside me, Gabby. Use it! Spread the load."

Rory came to the other side of Gabby and spread his arms. "Spread it further."

Sam came in and raised his arms. "What the hell, what's one more dose of insanity. Plug me in, Gabby."

Troy and Ceaser came in and also joined the line.

The Doctor took his place at the end of the line. "I got a good look at you in 2012, Gabby. I'll never forget your face. Use that image." He raised his arms. "Let's add Time Lord science to this. Look through my eyes. See the readings from the sonic glasses. Yes! You can do more than absorb energy. Redirect it. Create a wormhole inside a wormhole-"

A stentorian voice boomed out of the portal: "Stop! You fools. You'll destroy yourselves."

"Yes," the Doctor said, "and take half the Jovian system with us. But that's nothing compared to the devastation in your dimension. It'll be the equivalent of a galaxy exploding. You may not have much of a dimension after that. You have no choice but to withdraw."

"You're bluffing!"

"Am I?" the Doctor shot back. "Gabby, open the new wormhole on zero. Five…four…three…two…one-"

"ALL RIGHT! You win. But we know you of old, Time Lord. You and your apprentices have not seen the last of us."

Amy snorted, "Take a number. Now get lost already."

The wormhole collapsed and vanished. As everyone (but Gabby) lowered their arms, the Doctor took off his glasses and aimed his screwdriver at the metal triangle and it went dark.

Amy said, "Doctor, Gabby still has a lot of cracks."

The Doctor aimed his screwdriver at Gabby. "Take what you need, luv. Heal yourself."

The cracks faded.

Sam blinked. "My head's killing me."

"That's Gabby withdrawing," the Doctor explained. "It'll pass in a few minutes. Then everything will be back to normal."

Amy said, "No, not everything."

8

8

Station security came in to mop the surviving bad guys, and the Doctor held back while Amy and Rory said goodbye to the people they knew there. Once Amy, Rory, Sam, and Gabby were back in the Tardis, the Doctor closed the door. The lights flickered for a moment; when they came back up, Gabby was staying to one side, arms folded and scowling slightly at Amy and Rory.

Sam said, "So, we all one big happy family again?"

Amy asked, "You still want out?"

Sam hesitated and said, "Yeah."

"Doctor," Amy said, "could you take us to our grave site? May 12, 1939. 5:00 PM ok, Sam?"

"Where is that, Amy?"

"Queens."

"Yeah, that'll work."

Amy nodded to the Doctor. The Doctor programmed the console and worked the control lever. He said, "Here we are."

Sam adjusted his hat. "You two," he said to Amy and Rory, "do yourselves a favor: stay out of my way." He opened the doors and left.

Amy wandered closer to Gabby. "It was my decision," she said, "and I was wrong. I did come to care for you, but I still decided not to tell you. I never should have lied to you, and for what it's worth, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. Doctor. When do we need to see her again?"

"April 7, 2012," the Doctor said, "3:20 PM. Wait for Rory to read his name on the headstone."

Amy smiled slightly. "Don't be late."

She turned her back on Gabby. Rory and the Doctor turned away. They heard footsteps and the door closed. The Doctor looked over his shoulder and saw Gabby was gone.

He touched the control lever and set the Tardis in flight.

8

8

Gabby stood with her back to the Tardis, her hands over her face, as the Tardis dematerialized. Sam had already left the cemetery, and no one else was there to see the streams of water slipping down her cheeks.

No one bore witness to the moment when a weeping angel lived up to that name.

8

8

"So," the Doctor said, "where to now?"

Amy said, "You figure out how to change the timeline and get us back home for good?"

"No, Amy."

"Then don't worry about it, Doctor. We settled in. Our lives are ok. Don't feel bad and don't beat yourself up.

"That said," Amy went on, "it would be nice to visit our families and friends."

"Might be hard to do with you and Rory dressed like that, Amy."

"Actually, Doctor, I've been thinking about that…"

8

8

"See, Mum, like…this." Amy stood before a bedroom mirror with her mother and finished a minor adjustment to her mom's hair.

"Wow," Mrs. Pond said, "I never would have caught that."

"Well, you live with people who wear those hairstyles all the time, you learn pretty quickly what you're getting wrong."

What had taken an hour from Amy and Rory's perspective—while they stopped off back at their apartment to change and made phone calls from the Tardis—had taken a couple of weeks to set up in the 21st century, but the end result was the way Amy and Rory could see their families in 1940s dress without friends not 'in the know' thinking twice about it: a 1940s-themed costume party. And from the looks of things, the party was a success.

As Amy and her mom left the bedroom and headed down the hall, Amy said, "It's nice to be someplace that doesn't smell like cigarette smoke where I'm the only woman who ever heard the words 'sexual harassment.'"

"I was going to say you should do something about it, but would that change history? I can't believe I just said that."

"You get used to it, Mum. And I think I started the woman's liberation movement. Or at least gave it a boost."

"Good for you, dear."

Out in the yard, they found the Doctor and Rory in a little cluster with Mr. Pond and Mr. Williams.

"…still can't believe it-" Rory said as Amy and her mom came over. Rory spied them and said, "Amy, have you heard this? The world's gone mad! Not only has the UK voted to leave the EU, but Donald Trump is now the president of the United States."

"What?" Amy yelped, half surprised and half teasing. "Doctor! Did you take us to parallel universe?"

"No, Amy, I'm afraid this is your home universe."

"Ugh."

A phone ring sounded from Augustus Pond's pocket. He fished his phone out of his pocket. "Excuse me." He backed away from the group as he answered the phone.

Amy said, "So, Doctor, you have a new companion yet? Where's the next planet you're going to save?"

"Nowhere, Amy. This was my last adventure. I'm not doing that anymore."

"What?" Amy squinted at the Doctor. "Who are you and what have you done with the Doctor?"

Rory also scrutinized the Doctor. "I knew those eyebrows were too ridiculous. He's a Nestene duplicate for sure."

"You always say Nestene duplicate," Amy said. "No, Dalek puppet. Just look at that forehead. The eye stalk will pop out any minute."

Rory's dad said, "What about a clone. Could he be an ordinary clone? Or a robot? Yeah, I'm thinking robot."

"What's the matter with you?" the Doctor said. "I can't. I made a promise."

"Yeah?" Amy said. "Well then I want you to make another one. No, I want you to swear: you'll get a new companion and take her off across the universe."

"I can't."

Amy turned to her mother. "Mum, do you still have the number of my old agent?"

"I think so, dear."

"Yeah," Rory said, "and I could stop by the hospital on Monday. See if I can get my old job back."

"Are you daft?" the Doctor yelped. "You have to go back."

"Right," Amy said, "which means you're going to cave."

The Doctor's mood darkened. "I don't like being blackmailed, Amy."

"I'm not blackmailing you, Doctor. I want you to do what's good for you. We both know you don't do well traveling alone, and you go crazy when you stay in one place for too long. I think whoever you made your promise to will understand if you have to grab some young thing and whisk her off in your time machine. It's just you have someplace to go back to now. You're like the rest of us." She turned playfully hardnosed. "Besides, I'm your mother-in-law. That's an order." Amy's mother nodded in affirmation.

The Doctor smiled. "Fish fingers and custard, Ma'am."

"See. Did that hurt?"

"A little."

Augustus Pond came back to the group. "Excuse me. Amy? Call from a very insistent gentleman. Do you know a Sam Garner?"

"Yeah," Amy said, surprised, "but he's back—well, back in New York. I think. Put him on speaker, dad."

Augsustus tabbed the phone. "Done. I have them, Mr. Garner."

Amy looked around to make sure no one who didn't know about time travel was in earshot and said, "Sam?"

"Hey, Red." He sounded pleasant enough.

"Sam, what's up. What…" Another look around. "When is it? What day?"

"September 20, 1939. Where are you? No one's seen you and Rory in months."

"Uh, we're…back home, visiting. Why are you calling? I thought you were quit with…weird stuff."

"I was, but I kept an ear to the ground. You never know if something will pop on an old case, and something did. Remember the O'Malley case?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Vinny the Mouse popped out of his hole and invited me and Gabby over to his place for cocktails-"

"Gabby's there?" Amy yelped. "Well, of course she is. That's how you're making the call. But what about Vinny?"

"Remember that loose end from the O'Malley case? Well, Vinny has a very interesting story to tell us, out of the goodness of his heart. And I think I owe you guys some back pay. You in?"

"Uh, yeah," Amy stammered. "Doctor?"

The Doctor said, "Keep the line open, Sam. I'll trace the call."

Amy and Rory backed away from their parents. Amy said, "Sorry, everyone. Duty calls. We have to get back to 1939."

8

8

As the Tardis' cyclic rumbling got louder and the time machine solidified, Sam said goodbye to Amy's dad and put the handset on the rest Gabby was holding. It was night, and they were standing in the middle of a large, plush apartment. A small, bald man sat in chair between Sam and Gabby. He was dressed in a suit, pale, and he was dripping wet from head to toe.

Amy led Rory and the Doctor out of the Tardis. "Vinny? What happened?"

"Your psychotic statue happened," the man grumbled.

Sam said, "She zapped him around the apartment a few times. I don't think it agreed with him. It's like he's motion sick."

Amy asked, "Why's he dripping wet?"

"Oh, Gabby dropped him in the pool a couple of times," Sam said. "No, wait, she dropped him once, then the second time she sent him underwater. Vinny, Vinny, Vinny. Why did you get a penthouse pool if you're such a lousy swimmer?"

"Screw you, Garner."

"You'll have to buy me dinner, first."

Amy was still shocked. "I'm sorry but…it's only been a couple of hours for us. I thought…why…uh…" She trailed off.

"Yeah, well, I had time to think," Sam said. "I can't see the world the way I used to. And I would miss all this. And someone has to keep you two out of trouble. I'm willing to give you another chance—BUT—we level with each other from now on. No more secrets. No more lies."

The lights went out. When they came back up, Gabby had put down the phone and was holding her hands above her heart, crossing her index fingers.

Amy smiled. "Agreed." She crossed to Gabby and crossed her fingers over her hear. "Especially for you. Cross my heart."

"How heartwarming," Vinny said. "Can I go to the john? I have to barf up my other lung."

Amy turned to Vinny, all business. "You can pray to the porcelain god all you want after you tell us what's going on with the Daleks."

"Daleks!?" the Doctor yelped.

Sam said, "Yeah. Seems there's a turf war between Daleks and weeping angels and the angels are not happy with some of the moves the Daleks are making. Gabby's not exactly in with the other angels-"

The Doctor finished the thought: "So they use her as a free agent who gives them plausible deniability. I've been there."

Amy said, "Want in?"

"If it involves Daleks," the Doctor said, "of course."

"Then go back to the future and get your new companion."

"What makes you think I have a new companion, Amy?"

"I know, you, Doctor. You have your eye on someone, even if you don't want to admit it. You're still a bloke. Go and get her. I want to see this girl in action."

"What…you want to give your blessing to my new companion, Amy?"

"Damn right."

"I'll be right back."

As the Tardis dematerialized, Rory said, "Say Sam, didn't you once say you have some dirt on Fred Trump? Something no one else has?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "Why?"

"Well," Rory answered, "he's going to have a kid this year—no, next year, sorry—who will grow up to be president of the United States."

"Rory, if the kid turns out anything like Fred, you are welcome to what I've got."

"Thanks."

The Tardis rematerialized and the door opened. The Doctor led out a twenty-something black girl in jeans with a huge afro.

"Hope we didn't miss much," the Doctor said. "Quick detour. Killer robots who spoke emoji. Everyone, this is Bill. Bill, meet Amy, Rory, Sam, the dripping wet guy is Vinny the Mouse, and the chatty statue who won't shut up is Gabby."

"A statue named Gabby, Doctor?" Bill said. "This is an art project?"

"She's a weeping angel, Bill. They're quantum locked. They turn to stone when you see them."

Bill made no secret of undressing Gabby with her eyes. "So they're flesh and blood when the lights are off? I could deal with that."

The lights blinked, and a smile appeared on Gabby's face.

Amy laughed. "Blood hell, Doctor! You sure know how to pick 'em."

The Doctor smiled. "Yes, Amy, I do."

THE END


End file.
